Anne Stuart is probably one of my favorite authors. I tend to go to her when I get in a book slump (the Ice and Fire series usually).  She bounces around different sub-genres in the romance genre, so she's done romantic-suspense, gothics, historical, contemporaries, etc. This one follows a bit of noir bent (in the sense that it plays with it). 

I found this one in my local used bookstore, but some of her older releases can be rough to find! Sometimes she releases a kindle version, so that's been great. She has a lot of books out...like a lot. She's a reader's dream come true. I've seen this likened to Catspaw, and I can see it. It's a bit zanier than that one to me, but I get it! 

Ah, I think hurricane season is totally starting. Well, I mean, it picks up around this time. Tropical Wave/Storm Fred flamed out and went away. Not that it would have really gotten to me to do any damage but sometimes we get some rain if they're strong enough. I mostly only panic if they're coming up the coast towards me. 

Anyways, this book was quite fun. Catherine Ryan Howard is a new author to me but I really enjoyed this book. I picked it up because I saw the Edgar Sticker (it's been removed on that book). I tend to really enjoy Edgar Awards and Edgar Nominees. I also liked that the paperback that I picked up is taller than normal, I don't know why  but it felt like it fit well within my hands. 
​

Anne Stuart is such an "instant buy" author for me. Even the books she writes that I don't adore are solid 3 or 3.5 stars. That's pretty amazing. 

Her "Fire" series is a spin-off from her "Ice" series. While the Ice Series is set in the UK as a home-base, the Fire series is based in America. Specifically in New Orleans, Louisiana. This is the third book in the series and introduces two new characters, both tangentially related to the infamous Committee, the shadow spy agency. 
​

I have read a lot of 'ugh' books recently. UGH books. Books I did NOT like. It's been a struggle. 

I did read the newest Janet Evanovich and while it's not quite like the earlier books (and there's still an annoying love triangle), it seemed less phoned in. I'm still not rushing out to buy her books but I'll pick the next up from the library. 

I read this book a few weeks ago. It was a spur of the moment library book based totally on the cover. It's not my normal type of book to be fair, as it has some horror elements. It's really delightful. Well, horror infused delight? I read it all in one sitting because I was hooked. 
​

Well, I accidentally took a week off. I was supposed to go to the beach this weekend but the gas pipeline ransom thingy caused a rush on the gas stations (like all the people who panic when a hurricane comes and buy stupid crap in bulk...or all the toilet paper). So I just met a friend for lunch and shopping at Ulta. 

Ulta was slammed too! Like, everyone was there getting their stockpile back up. I needed more foundation and perfume so it worked out just fine. It's too bad about the beach because the weather was perfect. 

I'm not happy about any of the decoration decisions I've made in my home office/library set up. So I'm still working that out. It's just a mess in this room. 

The book on review is called It's Always the Husband. I thought the blurb was interesting, although I figured it was most likely going to be more of a thriller than mystery led. It started slow but I think picked up at the end. 

So Bumble BFF is going...semi okay. At first, I swiped right (or "yes") on anyone breathing. I didn't get a lot of responses right away...except from the people who had filled out their profiles. So then I decided to just swipe right on potential gal pals who had filled in their profiles. Except if their entire profile was 420 themed. Like, that's fine, you do you...but I'm going to want to talk about if Armie Hammer is a cannibal...not your favorite strand of weed. I'm not being a straight laced person here...everything was weed related. I have a friend who thinks these are dealer profiles. That would make sense, because it was a very specific type of call out. 

Today, one of the not-filled out profile gals matched with me, so I checked out her profile. The only thing listed was her job and that she wanted to meet people. So I wrote to ask how she was doing and what her job was like. She wrote back that it was an odd question and then "fine." No further comments. Am I supposed to continue this conversation(?) and how was that an odd question? It was all I had to go on! Like, I have stuff to do and there's nothing on my list saying "bully someone into talking to me." Obviously, filled out profiles are the way to go. Everyone else wants to talk about if Armie's weird ass tendencies with me. 

Let's just move on. Otherwise, I'll write a whole blog post about weird men with money and their odd requests in bed (yes, I'm still talking about Armie). I bought this book as it fits some of my checklist for this subgenre I'm quite interested in. It's set in the time period of 1900-1940 (this one is set in 1919) and is a mystery that's not too cozy. I've been having quite a few misses in this category so I had middling hopes for this book, but I think it's much better than I was expecting. 

Gosh, I'm glad I don't sell books. I did not give this one a good introduction. This was a pretty good book with shades of Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None (we're not doing any title but that one). It was a fairly intricate mystery with an absolute twist ending. 

My detox lasted for about eight days. So that was exciting. I tried to start some new shows, some new books, and some new hobbies. I didn't do my normal "admin" for the website so I don't have any pictures uploaded so I thought I'd go through my backlist and talk about some books that I didn't have any plans for a full review on. 

The starting book is a "manga" or illustrated classic. I'm a big fan of multi-media approaches to literature because I feel that everyone learns differently. Also, sometimes reading the original text can be rough, but seeing a play/movie/radio adaption etc., can do wonders. It also tends to force me back to the source material to read again. I don't think Austen's works are that hard to follow but I will admit that sometimes I struggle through following the historical notes or satire that is throughout her works. I have a few of the Shakespeare illustrated/graphic novels/manga (I don't quite know the correct term for the oeuvre here) and I think they're great. I did give away some that I didn't love as much (one of Shakespeare's Tragedies, an Austen that I didn't love as much, and a duplicate copy that was sent to me) to a classroom near me. ​

I've got to get a better way of clean/dirty mask in/out system in place. I bought a bunch of masks (general to outright fun ones) but I guess the system I have now isn't great since everyone is using them (a good thing!) but there's no set way to determine if they're clean or dirty when they get thrown back into the same pile. I'll figure it out. Maybe. 

I read this one a few weeks ago. I like Sandra Brown's books because (other than just one of them) they all settle at a 3* (like) to 4ish* (really liked). So I have a regular author that I can know will be good. The cover for this one is just beautiful isn't it? I love a nice cover. 

Uh, just remember that my personal rating system is harsher than I am on Goodreads. I have this one much higher on Goodreads or if I recommend it. Does that make sense? Like if I rated this a 3.5 star, I'd rate it 4 stars on Goodreads but 3 stars on my personal system. 

I have these four books on my kindle tablet. It's a four book series that follows a family, The Morgans, as they solve four different crimes. It's pure romantic suspense, with each of the four members of the Morgan family getting their own book and their own romance. I found these to be solid mysteries, solid romances and my ratings ranges from 3* to 4*. Sometimes I found the men to be extra grumpy and I didn't like the lady lead (which kinda makes a hard start). Burton's female leads tend to be harder as characters and her male leads tend to be closer to the "alpha" stereotype. There's nothing wrong with this of course, it's just not my favorite so I do struggle with that. My favorite book of the four was I'll Never Let You Go, which did have a mystery but was done differently than the other three. 

These were written between 2014-2016. I love a good romantic suspense (heavy on the mystery more than romance) book where there's a capture of a serial killer or deranged killer. The themes in these book deal with possibly wrong convictions, stalking, abuse, and forensics to solve old cases. I understand there are some real bad apples (or, in some cases, departments) that are wrecking the ideal of policing in real life. I haven't really resolved my favorite trope with real life as of yet. It's a worthy discussion though. 

I finally managed to get all my TBR all in one area. They're in one of those tall bookcases that was left over from university days (via Target/Walmart) and then...stacked in front on the floor. I'm not too sure how many there are left because I didn't count them but maybe around 400-500. 

Which is a lot. Not going to make any qualms about that. It's not even counting my e-books. I'm quite determined to make a dent this year though. I read over 200 last year so I think it's doable. I realize these numbers are insane though. 

I'm actually reading a different Anne Stuart (a historical) but I'm going to talk about her second book in the fire series today. Isn't that a nice cover? I really like it. 

I know there's drama in another sphere when it spills over into my fairly dull Twitter feed. I mean, I like my Twitter feed but it's pretty much news, politics, world news, world politics and science. So if literary or make-up or video game stuff gets big enough and spills onto my feed it's because it's gotten much larger. 

The latest "thing" is Shane Dawson and Jeffrey Star being...themselves? Which, having seen enough of them both, is a seemingly racist, misogynist, nasty personality set. I guess Dawson was pretty nasty about children, including Jada Pinkett Smith's child (who was very much a child at the time, not sure how old she is now). Jada is not happy about it (perfectly normal) and responded on Twitter. Star always seems to be involved in drama (sometimes seemingly inserting himself). I don't have the time to even follow along with this one, but I'm team anyone who isn't team-Star. 

On to the book! This book also has a movie, but I haven't seen it. I like Anna Kendrick (one of the main characters), Blake Lively is okay but not exactly my cup of tea, and Henry Golding is hella hot. Which uh...I mean, he's more than that of course. I do believe the movie has a different ending than the book. 

I thought the book was alright. It wasn't my absolute favorite mystery but some aspects really stood out to me as exceptional. I have this a solid good book. Decent writing and nicely plotted structure. I figured out parts of the "mystery" whilst reading, which is always a bit of a bummer. 

I'm still sloooooowly cleaning my office up. There's just a lot of stuff packed in here at the moment. I think some of my problem is that I only go through the hoard when I'm feeling like tossing things. Otherwise I'll just convince myself to keep it. I think I'm a secret pack rat at heart. I've moved half my "to-be-read" books off my massive pile (group of piles) and into a tall bookshelf. 

I've also managed to read three books this weekend, but that's because my sleep schedule is still wacked from the migraine and there's not much else to do at 3 AM. I am technically 17 books ahead of schedule (according to Goodreads). I've set my goal for 230 and I've read 125 books. 

This is the first book in a companion series to the Ice Series. It begins with the creation of the American Committee- sister to the branch set in London-- but far more independent and not under the sway of the Committee's Board of Governors. Granted, under this Board the English Committee worked in a gray area most of the time so the thought is the American Committee would be free to be...better. It probably wouldn't work like that in real life, I mean, my last police chief couldn't keep in ding-a-ling out of the company ink so I doubt a rogue mercenary group would work out...but in fiction- It's gold!

I'm not sure how else to describe the financial backing the group gets. Maybe if the Bilderberg Meeting had a secret Illuminati sub-sect that hired and controlled a group of mercenaries and sent this to fix the world's ills. I'm sure a conspiracy theory wack job would claim that this would totally happen but come on. The paperwork for the finances on that would be insane. 

Once, when I was vacationing near where the Bilderberg meeting was taking place my cousin (who has not talked to me in years...like twenty would be generous) wrote me a long, rambling facebook message about how I needed to stay away from them but also infiltrate and protest them. He was in his basement. In Arkansas. He also was not happy when I told him that I would one hundred percent join the meeting if invited. I bet they have great food there. 

So don't be my cousin the moron. 

I'm always down to join a secret group. Are we going to have good food? Topple the government? Will there be deviled eggs? Let me in! 

I'm thinking about getting a high frequency face device. Why? I'm vain. That's it. Plus I like skin gadgets. I might not get it. I'm on the fence. Leaning towards yes. 

My friend is trying to talk me into trying banana flavored rum (for pina coladas). I don't like the texture or taste of bananas. Is that odd? 


This is the last book in the Ice Series (but the series sorta continues with the Fire Series that is set in America). It might be one of my favorite books in the series. I really like all the characters, the settings, the adventure and the story. 

Well, I had a migraine on Sunday night. I think it was a combo of weather and being dehydrated (I kept playing with my new espresso machine for drinks so that's on me). So I'm a bit later than I meant to be. 

I've been taking the CGRP medication for at least a year. It's radically changed my migraines. I'm in less pain -- I even have days where there's no pain! -- but they wear off after 25 days, so I'm taking them every 27 days instead of 31. I still get the other side effects at the same level. So the pain is less (like,it'll go away with OTC pills) but the other stuff is at the same high level. So sometimes when it hits like a freight truck, I just gotta chill on the couch so I don't walk into a wall. Depth perception going wacky is a side effect for me. Guess how many times I've broken a toe? 

About ten. 

This book, I first read on my Kindle. I liked it enough to buy a physical copy and at the time (I'm still not sure if Stuart has republished this beyond the e-book availability) the copy below was available. Aren't I so lucky to get a random sticker that won't come off in the middle of the cover? Who does that? Do you see the puppets? This was kinda when I fell in love with Anne Stuart. She took a puppet backstory and made me enthralled. 

I've been in a few little book slumps. They'll last for a day or so.

Which probably seems ridiculous but I pretty much read every day. Yesterday during my bubble bath I just got on housewives forums to read. I don't even watch Real Housewives of Beverly Hills...but I can name the cast members now. My guilty pleasure is the New Jersey one (not sure why to be honest...) and Potomac. Potomac's great. 

This past weekend I've been sorting my clothes. My house has a tiiiiiiiny closet and no storage space. I've decided it's time to KonMari it again and give myself a work uniform. Also, I'm finally going to figure out how to store this all and do a closet makeover. My taste runs a bit closer to a gothic Versailles (I know) so I'm looking for inspiration on decoration that's more stated but still bold and fun. I stumbled on Signed, Blake's website where she details how she uses removable wallpaper. Which, somehow (even when buying it) I've missed that it was a thing. I loved her bedroom (it's a moody lux that I can get behind). Granted, my comforter set that I just got is...not moody. I'll figure it out. 

I was super inspired by the closet design/remodel she did because that's kinda what I'm thinking about doing with mine. Pretty wallpaper, nice system and super organized. It'll be a goal. Except my closet is more like...a tiny box. You can take one or two steps into it. I'll figure it out. Hopefully. 

Right, on to Ruth. I have bought four of Ruth's book (well, three and one came in a subscription box). I have liked one (this one), thought one was super dry and DNFed it and....not read the other two yet. So we're 50/50. That probably doesn't seem like high praise. I don't really love suspense/thriller books (usually I need a rampaging serial killer/hot FBI tie in, romance, mystery etc. to keep me going) as I find them really aggravating. I don't like being anxious while reading! So the fact that I liked this one I think means that Ruth Ware is quite a good author. I just don't like thrillers or suspense-thrillers. Yet...we beat on. 

​I sat down and read this in a few hours over the weekend.

I got a phone call today that three people I knew had gone to be tested for the Covid-19 virus. They've been sick for a week (more or less) but there's also a regular cold going around town as well, so hopefully it's that and not Covid-19. Some of my friends have been laid off of work as well, which sucks. It's all just super crappy. 

I'm taking a small break from the news. I'm normally an avid news reader but until Dr. Fauci and Dr. Birx tell me it's safe, my butt is staying home. Also, I think I hurt my head from rolling my eyes so hard when Trump would talk during the pressers. Like, he adds nothing to these things and I don't know why he's there. Which is a sad thing to say about the President of the country but...truth. 

I've read quite a few books this year. I think I'm almost to one hundred, if not over. Annoyingly, I haven't gotten all the photos or even prepped my thoughts to write about them. I have cleared out some of my home office since I'm working here. I also installed my bidet, so that's been *refreshing*. Luckily, I've read this book a few times (Stuart is my go-to chill out author). I have the e-book, the audio book and a paperback. The audio book is narrated by Xe Sands. Sands does a lovely job and I have to note that her voice is very calming. Jilly (one of the characters) has a 'voice' in a higher range than Sands own voice but it's not unpleasant. Sands has narrated a few of Stuart's books (including the one after this).  

Goodness, I didn't mean to fall off the face of the planet. I have read a bunch of books since the beginning of the year (about 75 actually). Most have been re-reads or DNFs (which I totally count because I skim through to the end). I'm not sure what I'll post about because I don't want to write 75 different reviews. Ice Storm was one of my re-reads (I think I've read it more than five times at this point). 

The RWA (Romance Writers Association) fall-out is still going on. It's interesting in the sense of watching a company deal/not deal on social media or with crisis management. To be fair...I might be the only person who loves watching company's deal with social media fall-out. In the middle of all that, Flatiron Books (a publisher) began their hype tour of one of their newly published books, called American Dirt. I read the blurb and it's not my normal type of book so I didn't pay any attention (I saw one blurb about it being a new "Great American Novel" which I thought was over-reaching simply because you can't know what books will stay in the populace conscious. It's a fairly overstated marketing term for new books anyways). Then this one person who I'm super BEC about joined the conversation about the issues around the book, the release and publishing. So I tuned out....because I just can't with that person but uh...it's a good conversation to have. 

Back to the book...

I managed to catch the most ridiculous, drawn out cold. It lasted for two weeks! I've never taken so much time off work but I did get full use out of my ridiculous adult onesie collection (I've got a shark and a panda, get jelly). I wish I could say I read a ton more books but I was so miserable I couldn't get lost in any book. I did manage to finish a few by the end of the cold, including the Tami Hoag book (Night Sin) I've been keeping in my purse. I'm not rushing to reach any reading goal as I've reached it so I don't know how many more books I'll get to before it's 2020 (!!!). 

Ice Blue is a re-read for me. I have a physical copy, an e-book and the audio book. I like audio books but my mind wanders so I tend to only get the versions where I've read the book so it's not a stress. I will say the audio book narrator is really decent in this one. One of the characters is Japanese and the book before had a strong (and not sure if it was correct, it threw me when I first heard it) accent whereas this one is not strong and not verging on a trope). 

Cold As Ice is the second book in this series. I'm kinda combining them. The Ice Series is around seven books and the Fire series is an offshoot, set in Louisiana more or less. So far there is only three books in the Fire series and I'm impatiently waiting for the rest. This book also got a new cover but as of this moment I only have the older hardback and an e-book. The cover from the hardback and the new paperback are vastly different (but it looks like an updated eBook cover). 

The setting for this is the Caribbean waters, England (Wiltshire and London) and America (New York and California...I think). Three of the characters reappear in this book from the first book and one new character is introduced. You don't have to read the first book to follow along with the plot here, but it does add to the development of The Committee story line. 

The older paperback/e-book cover is below. The icicle motif continues, even though it doesn't quite make sense since most of the beginning action takes place in the Caribbean. Still looks cool though.